A Shocking Truth
by AmIBrokenAmIFlawed
Summary: Okay, so I suck at summaries but roll with it, please. Members of the Sacred 28 are getting letters, but one arrives at the flat of a Hermione Granger, as well as to Theodore Nott, Draco Malfoy, and Ginny Weasley. Rated M just in case Dramione as the main pairing 3rd attempt at this story, bear with me.
1. The Letter

Author's Note: Well, here ya go. Also, you deserve an explanation as to why this has been posted and deleted twice.

My mental health has been in a really bad place for about 3 years now, and I'm a teenager. I keep deleting the story because I didn't want my parents to see it when cleaning out my stuff after I committed suicide. But here I am, not planning on doing that any time soon. Thank you for those that are still with me after these 2 years, and I hope you enjoy this.

I won't be updating frequently, school has been rather insane and I'm working on my other story Dilemma. I will try to update at least every month, but no promises.

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Theodore Nott POV

He bolted up from his nightmare ravaged sleep, hating the pain that was built up in his chest. His entire body was wet and sticky. He usually woke up covered in sweat, but this was worse than usual. "_Scourgify." _The simple spell quickly cleaned his sheets, drying them and making them less sticky. In this nightmare, everyone he loved was dead. Joy.

Guess it's time to start. His therapist told him that writing down his nightmares would help. Apparently, the muggles have been doing it for years. Where the fuck is the writing pad? After searching for 7 minutes, he found the pad, underneath his bedside table. Writing them down seemed to make them somewhat better, and help him to process them more.

_**Deaths:**_

_Draco_

_Pansy_

_Astoria_

_Daphne_

_Blaise_

_Mother_

_..._

As he continued listing off names, two hit him like cannonballs.

_Harry Potter_

_Hermione Granger_

Usually, in these dreams, only people that he cared about died. Yet, Granger and Potter weren't friends of his, nor were they even Slytherins. For Merlin's sake, his father fought _against_ them in the war. According to Draco, his father, Theodore Nott Sr., had been dueling Granger, then he let her take advantage of him and beat him. Theo had tried to question his father to no avail. His father had completely shut himself away, wouldn't come out to eat, he only came out when Voldemort called.

_**Cause of Death**_

_Burnt to death_

_Tortured_

_Raped, then Avada'd_

_Raped, then Avada'd_

_Bullet to the head (he was accused of being a half-blood, so he was killed by muggle means)_

He choked back a sob, his mother was always in these nightmares. Especially since his father became nonexistent in his family's lives. His mother became almost as distant as his father, as she always did when she was hurting. When he was about a year old to the time he was five, she always was like that. Eventually, her sadness slowly dissipated, and she became more carefree. She always got sad in September, but he assumed that was because she was afraid of when she would lose him to Hogwarts. He never did ask.

Her cause of death was the same in every nightmare:

_Undetermined_

Yeah, undetermined. All I know, every single time, is that she is _dead_. She always has tear tracks on her face, one hand is always stretching towards me, and one stretching elsewhere. I figured she was reaching towards Father, yet this time he was nowhere near her outstretched arm.

As for Potter and Granger, it got odd. Well… Granger's death was odd, Potter's was to be expected.

_Hit with the Avada Kadavra spell by Voldemort_

_Murdered by a group of Death Eaters, all of whom fell to the ground, screaming as if being tortured_

That made zero sense to him, as the only people that should know how to cast a curse like that are extremely powerful, dark wizards. Granger may be powerful, but she isn't dark…

An owl knocked on the window of his flat, jarring Theo from his thoughts. He relented, knowing that if he thought about Granger and Potter right now, he wouldn't ever get up.

As he peeled himself out with a groan, he quickly realized that his foot had fallen asleep as he was in bed. The end result was him stumbling around like a buffoon and cursing, trying and failing to grab a treat and clothes. As his brain was still in that period between sleep and awake, he tried to think of the time as the sun glared in (effectively blinding him), knowing that it was still too early for the post. He stared in confusion at the owl that had just arrived at his window, wondering what it could be this early, not yet fully aware of his surroundings, or yet recovered from the visions plaguing his mind. That is, he stared until the owl gave him a brutally sharp nip on the finger and he let out a less-than-manly (in his opinion) yelp.

"Bloody bird" he muttered under his breath, sucking his bleeding finger. "_Sicco_," he said, immediately healing and cleaning the blood from his finger. He then proceeded to untie the letter from the bird's leg and open it cautiously, away from his face, just in case. He never knew what to expect from unknown owls, because even though it had been 3 years since the end of the war he and all his fellow former Slytherins got hate mail weekly, usually with some sort of poison or curse attached.

When nothing burst out of the envelope, he fully opened the letter. Rather than having to read it, a deep Ministry voice rang out like a howler:

"_**Dear members of the Sacred 28, the Ministry politely invites you to come to the Ministry of Magic on July 25, 2001. We will explain why when everyone arrives. This event requires every member that is not in jail, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, or house arrest to be present.**_

_**Thank you,**_

_**Kingsley Shacklebolt"**_

"What in the name of Salazar?!" he exclaimed in utter confusion. He knew that his friends would be getting these now, as they were all Sacred 28. As well as himself, Draco, Astoria and Daphne Greengrass, Marcus Flint, Pansy Parkinson, Flora, and Hestia Carrow, and Millicent Bulstrode were part of the group of Slytherin Sacred 28. Some others are the Weasleys, Hannah Abott, Sullivan Fawley, and Ernie Macmillan. Of course, many are older, but those were ones that he had been in the same year as or around.

"Maybe Draco will have some idea what this shit is about," he wondered aloud, and no later than he finished his sentence, a beautiful Eagle Owl came gliding through his open window, lightly landing on the perch beside his window.

Knowing this was Draco's owl, Katoto, he immediately untied the letter from the owl's leg and gave the owl a treat, then for the second time that day, read a letter that confused him even more than the last one.

_**Theo, I know what's going on. I have to be quick, Mother is summoning me. I hope you can understand this: we are pure-bloods and of age.**_

_**Use your brain.**_

_**-Dray**_

What the fuck!?

Hermione Granger was sick of all the fan mail.

Yes, that sounds conceited, but it had been 3 years since the war, and she still got fan mail from everyone and their owls arrived weekly. She wanted to go back to a normal life, without being pestered all the time. She also had her fair load of critics, but for the most part, they were too scared to send anything that had even a slight chance of making its way back to them.

She felt bad for all of those that had avoided Azkaban. Scratch that, she felt bad about the backlash they still received, even those that were proven guilty. Mainly, she remembered her coworker and former enemy, Draco Malfoy, had confided in her of how he and his friends got hate mail with packed with curses, and items more dangerous.

They had become friends over the years, only after he revealed that he had always hated his father's opinions, but was too afraid to go against him. He had long since apologized to her, Harry, the Weasleys, and many others that he had hurt in his youth.

She normally just cast a simple Incendio and tossed it in the rubbish bin to burn, but this owl and letter were different. The top read Ministry of Magic, and while she wasn't sure that was legitimate, she always opened them for fear that she would be ignoring an official Ministry letter. She pulled the letter out of the envelope and the all-too-familiar voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt said:

_**Dear members of the Sacred 28, the Ministry politely invites you to come to the Ministry of Magic on July 25, 2001. We will explain why when everyone arrives. This event requires every member that is not in jail, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, or house arrest to be present.**_

_**Thank you,**_

_**Kingsley Shacklebolt**_

She stared dumbfounded for a minute at where the letter lay. Slowly, her mind started to digest what she just received, "There must be some mistake. I'm not Sacred 28. No, no, no, no."

There was really no reason for her to be panicking, as there must have been some mistake or some silly prank. She then took another look at the envelope and sure enough, 'Ms. Hermione Granger' was printed neatly on the front. "Maybe Ginny will know what is going on," she wondered aloud.

Just as she said this, the familiar pop of apparition sounded, and an annoyed witch, whose hair matched the blaze in her eyes appeared in front of her.

"Godric, Hermione, I'm fucking pissed," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes, tugging on a fistful of hair. "Why is that Gin," Hermione asked, a tad exasperated, knowing full and well what it was, as the Weasleys were members of the Sacred 28.

"Some stupid letter from the Ministry," she said with a huff and an eye roll, though obviously silently begging to have her statement be a major concern of Hermoine.

"Gin…" Hermione said slowly, worried about how the next few minutes would play out.

"What?!" the ginger-haired witch said shortly, with a glare.

At the hurt look that flashed across her friend's face, she backtracked with a look of remorse. "Sorry, 'Mione, I'm just really stressed."

"Don't worry, I am too" Hermione exclaimed quickly and rather unsure. The Weasleys had always viewed her as the muggle-born that their youngest son had once loved, and she rather didn't want to change that. Regardless, she knew she needed to, as she could never hide this from her best friend forever.

"About what?"

Ginny let out a wail as if there was no possible way in Merlin's name that there could be something more distressing to Hermione than the letter Ginny had received.

"I...I got the letter too" she said, her voice small. As she held it out in front of her, Ginny snatched the letter from her hand.

After approximately 5 seconds of hearing the letter, Ginny promptly collapsed, hitting the counter on her way down.

For those of you that don't know, Katoto means "friend" in Filipino, and Sicco is Latin for heal.


	2. Cow

**AN: I wrote this part 2 years ago, I swear future chapters will be better, also sorry for how long it took.**

***Hermione's POV, Monday, July 18, 2001***

"Oh shit, oh shit!" Hermione muttered as Ginny lay there not moving. She tapped Ginny's shoulder and yelled.

"Oh Godric, she's unconscious! Okay 'Mione, think, how long has it been? 15 seconds? Okay, Floo St. Mungo's, yes, that's right," she said, panicking.

She pointed her hand at her fireplace and did a wandless _Incindio_, threw some floo powder in and said "_St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries_."

"Hello! Help!"

When an employee got over to her she asked in a bored voice "Yes ma'am…", but upon seeing her face said in a voice that was much more worried and concerned "Oh, Ms. Granger, what seems to be the issue?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but continued, "Ginevra Weasley is in my flat. She just passed out."

"Oh gracious," the woman said, turning white. After doing a quick _Sonorus_, the woman screamed:

"WE HAVE A CODE BROWN! I REPEAT, WE HAVE A CODE BROWN! "

At that, 5 medi-witches seemed to appear out of nowhere, without the sound of apparition. Upon seeing this, the employee scampered off quickly.

The lead medi-witch asked Hermione "Ma'am, who requires assistance and why?"

"Ginevra Weasley. I showed something to her in my flat, and she passed out" Hermione said, worry for her friend evident in her tone.

"Ma'am, what did you show her?"

"A letter... Here let me get it." She stepped back into the fireplace, threw floo powder in, then yelled "Number 23 Tshering Lane."

Hermione bounded out of the fireplace, grabbed her letter by the envelope, and, giving up on Floo travel, apparated back to the hospital.

Seeing the medi-witches, she grabbed the letter out of the envelope, and let the witches hear the contents. Just as Kingsley finished saying his last name, a light flashed and Hermione whirled around to see the delighted face of Rita Skeeter, who was already re-reading what she wrote with a delighted smirk, and before Hermione could _Accio _it away from her, the Skeeter cow apparated out of St. Mungos.

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***Theo's POV, Tuesday, July 19, 2001***

Theo had not slept well the previous night, as his mind was still swarming with ideas about his letter. He groaned when the familiar tapping noise started at his window, but still went over and opened it. _The Daily Prophet _was hanging one the owl's leg and looked at Theo expectantly waiting for money. He grabbed two knuts out of the bowl he kept by the window and sent the owl on its way.

The headline read: _**Hermione Granger, a war heroine, gets a letter addressed to the members of the Sacred 28, Truth or Scandal?**_ Theo couldn't believe his eyes. For one, he knew Granger wouldn't lie about something like that. Secondly, he looked at the author's name, and just as he suspected, it was Rita Skeeter. With the absolute garbage that she wrote, she could make the devil look like an angel.

_Well, _he thought to himself_, maybe I should invite Draco over before I look at it, she is his friend_. As if using Legilimency, Draco apparated into Nott mansion.

"Morning, Theo, did you get the _Prophet _yet?" Draco asked, still in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, a tad breathless.

"Of course I did, but first I want to talk to you about something else. What did you mean when you said you knew what was going on with our letters?"

"We are of-age purebloods, and we have to give our sister's or daughter's hand away in marriage," Draco said, venom lacing his tone with obvious disgust with the idea.

"I… I thought they had gotten rid of that after the war," Theo said, glad that he didn't have to give away a sister.

"Apparently not," Draco said, having the same thoughts running through his brain.

"Well, on to today's topic, this article. Have you already read it?"

"No, I was waiting for you," Theo said.

"Same here, so let's read it." Draco opened the paper, with a twinge of what appeared to be sadness mixed with guilt on his face.

"_Hermione Granger showed up at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries today, saying that Ginevra Weasley had fainted in Ms. Granger's flat after reading the contents of a letter addressed to Ms. Granger. What could this letter be, you may ask. It was Ms. Granger's letter sent out to all members of the Sacred 28, which we all know she is a muggle-born. The letter read as such; _

**_Dear members of the Sacred 28, the Ministry politely invites you to come to the Ministry of Magic on July 25, 2001. We will explain why when everyone arrives. This event requires every member that is not in jail, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, or house arrest to be present. _**

**_Thank you,_**

**_Kingsley Shacklebolt_**

_Is this a letter actually sent to Ms. Granger, or stolen from Ms. Weasley, then proceeding to render her unconscious? I am continuing to talk to the Minister for Magic to get his response to the incident."_

"Bloody hell" both muttered under their breaths at the same time.

"Well, I'm fucking lost," Draco muttered with a mixture of disbelief, shock, and belief. Although Theo wasn't sure whether he didn't believe Granger, or that Skeeter wrote those obvious lies about her.

"Well I know one thing for sure," Theo said with determination.

"What could that be," Draco asked sarcastically, and with an eye-roll, knowing full and well what Theo was planning on doing. "We have to go talk to Granger and set things straight."

xxxxxxx

-Code Brown is not a real thing, I made it up. It means a war hero/heroine is/was in danger.


	3. Walking on Air

***Draco's POV, Tuesday, July 19, 2001***

AN: Wow this story has a lot of followers considering how shitty those two chapters are… thanks. Also, thank you for the review that acknowledged my idiocy, and Theo's mother is alive, and his father went to Azkaban for 2 years and was placed under house arrest after giving up other Death Eaters. Because of his incarceration, Theo is the current Lord Nott. I'm not quite sure if that was ever addressed in canon, but even if it was, this is how I'm using it for all intents of this fanfiction. Now that I'm done rambling, I hope this chapter makes up for the fact that I haven't updated in over a month.

Draco and Theo Flooed to the hospital, hoping that Hermione was still there with Ginerva (although why she would be, as all it should have taken was a Rennervate to get her back up and on her feet, they couldn't guess). As they got into the hospital (which was crawling with reporters), they went to talk to the witch at the front desk who, rather shockingly, pointed them to Ginny's room immediately.

As they walked to her room, Draco was wondering how many reporters paid them any mind and noticed that they went to Ginny's room. He shook the idea from his mind as he stepped into the room that, no matter how many times he walked in one, smelled horribly like death, whether someone had died there or not.

Ginerva Weasley was sitting up in her bed in said room, wide awake and looking _very _pissed off.

"HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU BROUGHT ME TO _BLOODY_ ST. MUNGO'S BECAUSE I PASSED OUT. YOU ARE A PILLOCK THAT NEEDS TO AV-," she cut herself off as she noticed the smirking men in the doorway.

"Merlin, you need to calm down Gin, I panicked, I'm bloody sorry," Hermione said faintly, tilting her head up to look at the boys. "Hello Draco, Theodore. May I ask why you're here?" Draco watched as her features switched between troubled, confused, nervous before she gave a start. "Oh, I-"

I interrupted her before she got a chance to say more, though I don't know exactly what to say, "Hermione… it's Skeeter's article. Is it true?"

Hermione's face flushed with rage, but rage that quickly subsided. She gave a small snort then questioned "Which part? That I got one of the 'Pureblood Letters' or that I'm a lying bitch?"

Theo looked shocked at her lack of couth, though I had told him about her. I told him that she swore like any other person, no matter how the media portrayed her. Well, _most_ of the media. Though Theo cursed just as much, he seemed shocked that the Golden Girl would do it.

"Granger, I may not know you well, but we went through 7 years of school together and I highly doubt that you're a 'lying bitch.' That being said, is it true that you got a letter?" Theo looked embarrassed for a fleeting moment, then his face got this far-off look that he uses to mask his emotions.

Ginny, who had been silent since we had walked in, chimed in that Hermione knocked her out, and that everything Skeeter wrote was true. Hermione responded to that by casting a _Langlock_ jinx, much to Ginny's dismay. I mean, finding your tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth would cause a bit of distress. Severus taught me that spell when I was 10. I miss my godfather. He was more of a father figure than Lucius was.

His sacrifice was inevitable. Right from the start, when Severus had Dumbledore place my mother in protective Order custody, we knew someone would die. When I became a spy for the light, I thought it would be me. Severus taught me to be a Legilimens and gave me lessons in Occlumency. He was much better at it than I was, and I was so sure Voldemort would be able to see inside of my mind and kill me on the spot. My mother was protected, but I was still living in the same house as a mad man. Everything that Severus did for me, the fact that he was a _good man_, despite what some may think, he still died.

I didn't go to Azkaban because multiple Order members testified that I was a spy. My father, on the other hand, got a life sentence. My mother moved back into the Manor, which I was granted Lordship over. I became Lord Malfoy when my father went to prison, which I still am torn over. On one hand, I wanted less than nothing to do with the name my father had sullied into meaning nothing more than prejudiced, Death Eater, murderers and the like. On the other, I could make the Malfoy name into something better, something more.

A hand, shaking my shoulder jars me out of my memories, as I look up to see Theo looking anxious, Hermione looking concerned, and Ginny looking confused. "Oh uh- uh sorry… wh-what were you saying?" Great. When I zone out or zone back in, I stutter. A lot.

"Draco, Hermione asked if you knew what the letter meant." Theo's voice lowered, realizing that I was embarrassed.

Ginny, who had a freshly detached tongue, piped up with the seemingly unavoidable question, "Are you okay Malfoy?"

And, of course, I lied. "Yes, Ginerva, I'm fine I just got distracted."

She winces at the use of her real name. "Please just call me Ginny, or Weasley if you must."

"Okay, _Ginny_ but you have to call me Draco."

"Deal."

Theo clears his throat, then cuts in saying "Ginny, in the most polite way possible, I assume your parents never explained the Marriage Laws of the Sacred 28 to you or your brothers?"

Ginny looked offended and opened her mouth to retort, but before she got the chance to do that, Theo cut her off saying "No, I mean because the Laws haven't gone into effect in over a century. That was not intended to be a slight against your family at all."

Ginny closed her mouth, then responded "No, they never did. They never mentioned it at Hogwarts either."

"To answer your question Granger, Draco told me he thinks the letters are referring to an old pureblood, more specifically an old Sacred 28 tradition. In this horrid excuse of a tradition, the head male of a family has to give the single females' hands away in marriage. It almost always is within the Sacred 28, if not she will go to a powerful pureblood family. The few times that a witch has gone to a half-blood family has been when that family is powerful. For instance, Ginny, you might be married off to Potter if your father arranges for such to happen."

Hermione made a sound of discontent before muttering about the barbarousness of it all.

She then spoke up, repeating what she said under her breath and then "What does that have to do with me? My parents are muggles that don't even know who they are anymore, not a family in the Sacred 28."

The other three of us all gasped at that, apparently Ginny was none the wiser about that then we were. Hermione stared at the floor, realizing what she said; while the others of us shot each other looks, begging the others to ask the question we were all thinking. Theo gave in. "Grang- Hermione… what are you talking about?"

She looked up, and there were tears in her eyes. "Right before 7th year, I _Obliviated_ them. I erased every memory of myself from their minds, then I fucking sent them to Australia. I couldn't let them be killed. So they now think their names are Wendell and Monica Wilkins. I tried to fix their memories but-," she collapsed on the floor sobbing. Theo dropped to his knees to comfort her, while I closed and locked the doors, cast _Muffliato _at the door, and then cast _Animagi Revelio Maxima_. After nothing happened, I joined them on the floor.

Theo had his arms around her and she cried into his shoulder, her body wracked with sobs.

He looked at me, unsure of what to do. I mouth to him to rub her back, and he does so.

* * *

After a bit, Hermione starts to calm down and she stops crying. When I offer her my handkerchief, she accepts it with shaking hands.

She looks at me, then at Theo (who still had his arm around her, in a protective way). Her expression is guarded better than most Slytherin's.

"I'm sorry Theodore, Draco. I don't quite know what came over me. You guys are the first people I've told that to. I didn't quite realize how much it would affect me." She blushes, and it's easy to tell how embarrassed she is.

"First of all Hermione, don't you dare apologize. You've been through so much, and you haven't told anyone that in almost 4 years? You deserve to cry as much as you need to. Second, please just call me Theo."

"Thank you both for everything." Turning to Ginny she says "Gin… don't tell Harry and Ron. Please?"

"Of course 'Mione. But- why didn't you tell us? I thought something was off, given that you haven't gone home for the holidays since the war, but you never said anything."

"I wasn't ready."

Ginny nods, and thanks us. Looking at Hermione, I ask "Would you like us to stay, or leave?"

Knowing what the answer will be, I regret asking the question. When I have my suspicions confirmed, my heart sinks to my stomach. Theo and I stand up, and I help Hermione up. As we turn to go, her small voice calls our names. We both turn back around to make sure she's okay.

What neither of us was expecting was for her to pull us both into hugs. Theo's face looked confused but happy.

As I walked out of the building, I felt like I was walking on air.


	4. Fish and Chips

I'll be honest. I completely forgot about this story, plus I haven't had any ideas for this one in a long while. To those of you to those that are still here, thanks for your patience.

My personal life has been a mess lately, Covid isn't really helping. I'm sorry this took so long. If you also read my story 'Dilemma', I'll probably update that within the next month?

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Hermione's POV, Sunday July 24, 2001

The next five days pass in a haze, with me not leaving my house after Wednesday. No matter how discredited Rita Skeeter was, some idiots still read her pathetic excuses of articles. Some of those idiots, however big of idiots they may be, were brave enough to attempt to attack me for being a 'liar'. Other than one unfortunate stinging hex that I missed, they all failed. 13 different people, all on the same day. Regardless, I didn't quite feel like having to watch my back more than usual.

Harry and Ginny brought me food Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. According to Ginny, Ron was a bit angry about me getting that stupid letter, yet she assured me that he would come around. Eventually. Harry was fine with it, albeit a bit confused. We talked for hours over Chinese takeaway about what may be happening. We each had our own favourite theories as to why I received the letter. Mine was that it was some prank from George, or maybe someone working on his behalf, though he vehemently denied it. Ginny thinks someone at the Ministry got a bit sloshed and made the 'mistake' of writing my name down. She even jokingly suggested that it was Kingsley's doing. Harry, on the other hand, thought it was completely intentional, and not for shits and giggles. He still worries about Death Eaters, more than the rest of us do. He expressed his concerns that it may be a ploy by some of Voldemort's followers to hurt me, though Ginny and I eventually talked him down from that one.

A knock on my door jarred me from my thoughts. Also causing me to fall off of my couch. And hitting my head. After muttering a few choice words, I picked myself off the floor, grabbed my wand, and headed for the door. Without pausing (like I know I should) I open the door to two awkward and concerned looking men on my front stoop.

"Draco, Theodore, hello. How may I help you?" Both men looked at me oddly for a second before Theodore cleared his throat. He looked down before mumbling something. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Could you please lower your wand? We aren't here to hurt you, we brought food." I felt my cheeks heat up as I realized I was pointing my wand at them, before quickly lowering it and shoving it in the waistband of my sweatpants. I then notice the takeaway bag in Draco's hands. For the brightest witch of my age, I seem to be incredibly unobservant.

"Oh Merlin I'm so sorry, uhm please, come in." I vaguely recognize that I'm in my pajamas, but the smell of food overrules the part of my brain that knows I should excuse myself to change. "You really didn't have to go to all of this trouble…"

"Nonsense Hermione, I'm- WE'RE not going to let you not eat because of some assholes," Draco interrupted with a shrug, moving to sit in one of my chairs, while Theodore opted to join me on the couch, "besides, it wasn't any trouble at all." At this, Theodore burst out laughing, and didn't show any signs of stopping. After a minute or so, he actually fell off of the couch (luckily not bumping his head in the process). Draco and I just stared at each other and at the man currently gasping on the floor of the carpet trying to calm himself down while also trying not to laugh ourselves.

As Theodore finally caught his breath, he leaned towards me and whispered in my ear "It took him 45 minutes to figure out how to order and pay for the fish and chips." He pulled back with a smirk gracing his features as it became my turn to dissolve into laughter. It may have taken me longer to compose myself than it took Theodore, but I'm positive I haven't laughed that hard in years. Draco just glares at Theodore, causing me to laugh for a second time. His cheeks were burning scarlet, a stark contrast to his unusually pale skin. He looks like he's _trying_ to make us think he's pissed, but his eyes betray the embarrassment he's trying oh-so-hard to suppress.

"Ugh whatever, Theo you wanker." That just sent me into another fit of giggles, I'm fairly certain they think I'm mad now… They look at each other, a silent conversation evidently being had yet impossible to decipher. It doesn't look judgmental. Wait a minute, yes it does. Not judgmental towards me, Theo towards Draco. Interesting.

We ate in silence after that, all of us realizing we were rather famished. As I finished my chips, I brought up the inevitable question.

"What's going to happen tomorrow?"

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This is really short, I'm sorry. Please review? Take care of yourselves :)


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